


Someday They'll Get to Me

by asofthesea



Series: whumptober 2019 [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 20:27:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20895632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthesea/pseuds/asofthesea
Summary: Peter and Tony's relationship got out. Someone from Tony's past wants revenge.Prompt: Human Shield





	Someday They'll Get to Me

“Peter, dude, have you seen the news?” Ned’s voice cuts through his reading.

They are in their last period study hall. Peter just wants to get his reading done so he can spend more time out as Spider-Man tonight.

“You know I don’t pay attention to the news,” Peter replies.

While it is always nice to see an uplifting story, he doesn’t like seeing all of the negative things written about Spider-Man. He knows that he’s doing good, he doesn’t have to prove that to anybody. However, reading The Daily Bugle’s articles never makes him feel good about himself.

“You’re all over the news!” His friend exclaims.

Peter is quick to shush Ned, “Don’t mention my after-school activities so blatantly! People could hear you!”

“No, not that. Like you, Peter Parker. Your face, the one I’m staring at right now,” Ned explains, shoving his phone into Peter’s hands.

Ned was right. There are pictures of Tony and him. People are speculating about their relationship, but Peter knows this is bad, very bad. Even if people somehow manage to not find out he’s Spider-Man, people will be following him. They are going to be asking him questions trying to figure out his relationship with Tony.

He doesn’t know what to do. One look around his study hall and he realizes that almost everybody is staring at him. The news must have just broken because nobody has paid attention to him all day, like usual. This is weird. The only classmates that ever give him any type of attention are his decathlon teammates, but this is weird.

Peter stands up and asks, “Mrs. Wallace, may I be excused to the restroom?”

She nods and even she must know what’s going on. Usually, she would demand that he signs out, but she lets him leave without any words.

Peter has to walk a ways to find a single-cell restroom, but he eventually arrives at one with only a few glances from people in the hall. He locks the door behind him and takes his phone out, immediately dialing Tony.

He answers on the fourth ring, “I’m guessing you saw the news.”

“Yeah, I did. Everybody is looking at me funny, and I hate it. What do we do?” Peter asks.

Tony huffs, “Well as soon as they find out exactly who you are, the reporters will be at your school, soon. Trust me, those vultures move fast. Happy and I are on our way to your school. Any chance you can sneak out of the back and we can pick you up?”

Peter doesn’t have any more classes, and he doubts Mrs. Wallace will give him a hard time. He sends Ned a text to put his stuff in his backpack and bring it home with him, Peter will have to stop by Ned’s and get it sometime.

“I can do that,” Peter responds, “How soon will you be here?”

“We are almost there, Pete, I promise,” Tony says.

“Okay, I’ll head out back and see you soon,” Peter says. They exchange goodbyes and Peter splashes some water on his face to help calm him down before he heads back into the hallway. 

He felt better now that they had a plan, but talking to Tony hadn’t actually helped. He could tell by Tony’s voice that the man was worried. Usually Tony was the one that calmed him down, but his phone call with his mentor hadn’t done anything to help his anxiety.

Peter’s mind felt like it was being pulled into a thousand different directions. He was worried people would find out about Spider-Man or that people would come for May. He might have to stop being Spider-Man for a while if people were following him all the time, he couldn’t be caught changing into his suit.

A voice in the back of his head thought Tony wouldn’t want to see him anymore, could be for any number of reasons. He could say that it was to keep Peter safe or that his company couldn’t afford to have his name dragged through the mud like this. Not being able to see Tony would be one of the worst scenarios.

Tony had helped him so much these past few months. He took him to a couple of baseball games and helped Peter with his homework. Tony talked to Peter about his crushes or his fears, like the building that had come down on him during his fight with the Vulture at homecoming.

Most of all, though, Tony made Ben’s loss hurt just a little less. The man probably didn’t even realize he was doing it. He just did stuff with Peter that Ben used to do with him. They also had their own new traditions. Like once a month when Peter was over, Tony would cook him dinner and just the two of them would talk about what had been going on in their lives. Usually Peter had done most of the talking, but he knew Tony didn’t mind.

Luckily, the hallway was deserted and no one saw him leaving school.

As he opens the back door, he feels something smack into his forehead.

Peter stumbles into the door and holds his head in pain. That really hurt. When his thoughts start to sort themselves out, he feels someone grab his hair and drag him away from the school.

The man with a gun in his hand looks vaguely familiar, but Peter can’t quite place him. He struggles against the man and kicks his legs. The man’s hold on Peter vanishes as he catches himself from falling.

“You little twerp,” the man grumbles. 

Peter picks himself up off the ground and takes off at a dead sprint. The man doesn’t seem to know he’s enhanced, so he uses that to his advantage. He sees Happy’s car pulling up and he runs towards it. The car comes to an abrupt stop and Tony and Happy are both running out of it towards him.

“Tony!” Peter shouts.

Tony runs right for him and shoves Peter behind him, facing the man.

“What do you want, Hammer?” Tony bites out at the man pointing a gun at them.

Peter remembers where he recognizes the man from. It’s Justin Hammer. He was a part of the people who attacked the Stark Expo the year he attended. One of the drones almost killed him before Iron Man swooped in at the last second and saved him. He really should tell Tony about that afterwards.

“I want you to pay for what you did to me! You seem to care a whole lot about this kid, considering you’re standing right in between him and a loaded gun.”

Tony starts pushing them slowly back, probably hoping they can somehow get back to the car. Peter notices Happy is moving out of Hammer’s view and to his side slowly, as to not draw attention to himself. There is no way these two had time to plan this maneuver, unless they knew about Justin. It’s either that or they have worked together for so long and seem to both want to do whatever it takes to save Peter. While Peter is touched, he doesn’t want either of them getting hurt for him, he isn’t worth it.

Tony puts his hands up and says, “Look, I understand that what I did hurt you, and I’m sure we can work something out.”

Justin shakes his head, it’s clear the man isn’t thinking straight, “I lost everything because of you, and now you are going to pay.”

Peter ducks his head as he hears a gunshot ring through the air.

His head whips up to see Happy laying on top of Hammer, restraining him. His hands find their way to Tony’s shoulders as he whips the man around to look at him, hoping that his worst fears haven’t come true.

He looks Tony up and down, not finding any injuries right away. The shot must have gone wide as Happy had tackled the man. His voice goes high as he asks, “Are you okay, did he hit you?”

“I’m fine, Peter,” Tony says calmly before throwing back at him, “Are you okay?”

Now that he knows the man is okay, he pushes Tony’s hands away, “Why would you do that?”

Tony is clearly confused, “Do what, exactly?”

Tony needs to understand. He needs to understand that what he did was not okay with Peter at all.

“Why would you throw yourself in front of me like that? You could have gotten hurt!” Peter screams.

Tony scoffs, “You are kidding me, right? Peter, this is my mess. Justin is my fault, no way was I letting him hurt you. Hell, if I can stop anybody from hurting you, I will, fuck the consequences!”

Peter doesn’t let the tears in his eyes fall, not yet. He has to get through to Tony first, “I will not watch you die! I can’t watch you bleed out in front of me while I am unable to do anything to help you! I won’t let you get hurt because of me, okay? I won’t let it happen again!”

“Again?”

He can’t stop the tears as he says, “Ben died because of me. He died saving me, and I won’t let you do it, too. I’m not worth it. I couldn’t handle losing you, especially not like this.”

All of Tony’s anger at Peter seems to have evaporated as he takes the step to close the distance between them to pull Peter into a hug. He talks quietly as his mouth is right next to Peter’s ear, “I’m sorry, kiddo, for scaring you. I don’t want you to have to go through that either, okay?” Peter nods as Tony continues, “However, there is no way I won’t protect you. You are worth it. I know that it’s hard, but that’s just the way it is.”

Peter sniffles and counters, “It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Tony runs a soothing hand through Peter’s hair, “Yes, it does, but I want you to know that if something ever does happen to me, that you shouldn’t feel guilty. The things that I do are my choices. It will probably hurt, but I wouldn’t ever blame you if something ever happened to me, you know that, right?”

Peter nods, because he does know that, deep down. Tony wouldn’t ever want him to feel guilty about something like that, but he knows it would still be hard.

He buries his face deeper into Tony’s chest, “It’s still hard, though.”

Tony kisses the top of his head, “I know it is, kiddo, but you’re tough. I know you’ll get through it.”

“I love you,” Peter has to say it. He has to say it because Tony could have died today and he’s never said that to the man. If something ever does happen to Tony, he wants him to know that.

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> not sure how i feel about this. liked parts of it and didnt like other parts, but thought i'd still post anyways!


End file.
